The internet is a service that is often taken for granted without much thought as to what goes on in the background. The infrastructure required to keep the internet functioning requires a large amount of power to store data, send and receive information, and cool down the infrastructure that facilitates these functions. In addition there is the consumption by all of the private computers and other internet enabled devices. There are also legacy networks in place that consume energy such as ATM’s and frame relays. In a study done by Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering and the University of Melbourne, they found that the telecommunications network alone consumes, “ about 1% of the total electricity consumption in broadband enabled countries” (Baliga). The EPA did a study on another area of internet energy usage and found that nation’s servers and data centers, “consumed about 61 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) in 2006 (1.5 percent of total U.S. electricity consumption) for a total electricity cost of about $4.5 billion” (EPA Report to Congress). This is equivalent to the amount of energy consumed by approximately 5.8 million average US households. Many of these studies also point to the fact that the energy use will continue to grow and consume significantly more energy. The study done by the EPA in 2006 found that the energy use by data centers had doubled since 2000 and they predicted that in 2011 the energy usage by data centers would be 100 billion kWh. In issues surrounding sustainability the term Jevon’s paradox often comes up. It states that as systems become more efficient they will be used more, leading to increased consumption. In the case of the demand on data centers, the need is growing faster than the advances in efficiency can even keep up with (Johnson). One study done by Google was conducted in response to claims made about the environmental impact of a “google search.” What they found is that each, “Google search is equivalent to about 0.2 grams of CO2” (Google). To bring this into perspective, if you were to drive a car 1 mile it would equal about 1700 google searches. If you take that number and consider how many google searches are made every day it adds up. Google has made a concerted effort to build more energy efficient data centers and has invested almost $50 million in clean energy technologies. This does not offset the huge data center they built in northern Oregon. This data center occupies 30 acres and is estimated to use 103 MW of power to run (Johnson). It is difficult to know exact numbers on issues such as these because companies are often unwilling to disclose that information as it is considered trade secrets.
Works Cited:
Baliga, J.; Hinton, K.; Tucker, R.S.; , "Energy Consumption of the Internet," Optical Internet, 2007 and the 2007 32nd Australian Conference on Optical Fibre Technology. COIN-ACOFT 2007. Joint International Conference on , vol., no., pp.1-3, 24-27 June 2007
doi: 10.1109/COINACOFT.2007.4519173 URL: <http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=4519173&isnumber=4519074>
Internet Sustainability
The internet is a service that is often taken for granted without much thought as to what goes on in the background. The infrastructure required to keep the internet functioning requires a large amount of power to store data, send and receive information, and cool down the infrastructure that facilitates these functions. In addition there is the consumption by all of the private computers and other internet enabled devices. There are also legacy networks in place that consume energy such as ATM’s and frame relays. In a study done by Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering and the University of Melbourne, they found that the telecommunications network alone consumes, “ about 1% of the total electricity consumption in broadband enabled countries” (Baliga). The EPA did a study on another area of internet energy usage and found that nation’s servers and data centers, “consumed about 61 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) in 2006 (1.5 percent of total U.S. electricity consumption) for a total electricity cost of about $4.5 billion” (EPA Report to Congress). This is equivalent to the amount of energy consumed by approximately 5.8 million average US households. Many of these studies also point to the fact that the energy use will continue to grow and consume significantly more energy. The study done by the EPA in 2006 found that the energy use by data centers had doubled since 2000 and they predicted that in 2011 the energy usage by data centers would be 100 billion kWh. In issues surrounding sustainability the term Jevon’s paradox often comes up. It states that as systems become more efficient they will be used more, leading to increased consumption. In the case of the demand on data centers, the need is growing faster than the advances in efficiency can even keep up with (Johnson). One study done by Google was conducted in response to claims made about the environmental impact of a “google search.” What they found is that each, “Google search is equivalent to about 0.2 grams of CO2” (Google). To bring this into perspective, if you were to drive a car 1 mile it would equal about 1700 google searches. If you take that number and consider how many google searches are made every day it adds up. Google has made a concerted effort to build more energy efficient data centers and has invested almost $50 million in clean energy technologies. This does not offset the huge data center they built in northern Oregon. This data center occupies 30 acres and is estimated to use 103 MW of power to run (Johnson). It is difficult to know exact numbers on issues such as these because companies are often unwilling to disclose that information as it is considered trade secrets.
Works Cited:
Baliga, J.; Hinton, K.; Tucker, R.S.; , "Energy Consumption of the Internet," Optical Internet, 2007 and the 2007 32nd Australian Conference on Optical Fibre Technology. COIN-ACOFT 2007. Joint International Conference on , vol., no., pp.1-3, 24-27 June 2007
doi: 10.1109/COINACOFT.2007.4519173 URL: <http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=4519173&isnumber=4519074>
"Can the Spam." Economist. 15 June 2009: n. page. Web. 9 Nov. 2011. <http://www.economist.com/node/13851721?story_id=13851721&fsrc=rss>.
Johnson, Bobbie. "Google's power-hungry data centres." The Guardian, 03 May 2009. Web. 9 Nov 2011. <http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/may/03/google-data-centres>.
Johnson, Bobbie. "Web providers must limit internet's carbon footprint, say experts." The Guardian, 03 May 2009. Web. 9 Nov 2011. <http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/may/03/internet-carbon-footprint>.
"Powering a Google Search." The Official Google Blog. Google, 01 Jan 2009. Web. 9 Nov. 2011. <http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/powering-google-search.html>.
"The Environmental Benefits of Moving to the Cloud." Cloud Computing and Sustainability. Accenture, n.d. Web. 9 Nov 2011.
United States. Environmental Protection Agency. Datacenter Congress Report. 2007. Print.